by “It’s really horrible for playwrights at the moment,” says Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder, co-artistic director of new writing company Box of Tricks. Among the dwindling commissions and the threatened literary departments, there is an abundance of ill-sounding dramatization, with much of the discussion focused on London. Away from the capital, however, small companies are finding creative ways to support playwrights.
In Manchester, Box of Tricks brought together hundreds of writers from the north through its PlayMakers Network, which was originally set up in response to the pandemic. The network offers support, guidance, feedback and connection, as well as providing free hot-desk and workshop space for members. It runs targeted schemes for playwrights, the latest of which is Accelerate: a nine-month development program for northern writers over the age of 35, which culminated in performances of works in progress at the Town in January.
As Tyrrell-Pinder explains, Accelerate was created to address the “strange middle ground” experienced by older writers “where you’ve been doing it for a bit but now you’re too old for the schemes of young playwrights”. The company’s data showed that there was a decline in participation and opportunities for those over 35. The 12 chosen for the program have a range of experience: there are experienced screenwriters, performers who are moving into writing and one woman who has started. writing plays for the first time in his 50s. Tyrrell-Pinder hopes that the initiative will change the stories we think are valuable”.
Over in Hull, Middle Child is passionate about developing a theater ecosystem in the city and stemming the “talent drain” for the capital, says artistic director Paul Smith. It has provided a range of free and paid development opportunities for playwrights, including scratch nights, freewriting and rehearsal space, and workshop support. This summer, he is expanding his ambitions with Fresh Ink, a new drama festival sharing stories with, about and for the people of Hull.
“We know how difficult it is to get a second or third commission, because theaters are often looking for the newest name or the youngest name or the first-time writer,” says Smith. In the middle of the festival, six new commissions have been selected from an open call. These scripts will be shared in scratch format, with the hope that Middle Child or other companies will pick them up for full productions. In addition, the festival will provide support for writers of all ages and career stages. Smith hopes that Fresh Ink will “become part of the cultural calendar – not just in Hull, but nationally”.
Ali Pritchard, artistic director of the Alphabetti theater in Newcastle, hopes to achieve a similar national mark. Since its inception in 2012, Alphabetti has been a powerhouse of local talent development. Pritchard says that “artists in the north-east rely on the Alphabet” as proof material for work that then takes place in large theatres. One of the most striking features of the theatre’s programming model is its pattern of three-week runs for main shows – something unheard of on this scale outside of Edinburgh. As Pritchard explains, these longer runs have multiple benefits: space for artists, more time to develop an audience, and the ability to invest in access measures such as subtitling and audio description.
The model is not without its challenges. While some shows ran at an average audience capacity of 85-90%, others were stuck at 20%, which Pritchard admits is “sad as an artist”. But these longer ranges also allow for Alphabetti’s answer writing program, which Pritchard describes as “the feather in our cap”. During the first week of a main show, playwrights are invited to see the show and write a short play in response. From these submitted scripts, one is selected for a week of paid development with a writer and actor and then shown as a curtain closer in the final week of the run. In many cases, this first opportunity leads to further support.
One thing these art leaders agree on is the importance of process, not just product. Speaking about Accelerate, Tyrrell-Pinder says the company didn’t want writers to panic that “I have to produce something at the end!” Allowing a dedicated writing time period between development sessions and final sharing takes the pressure off. One of the purposes behind Fresh Ink, meanwhile, is to “let people peek behind the curtain”. Middle Child’s state-of-the-art performances drew most of the audience from outside the arts, which showed “a clear desire to see work in its early stages”.
All these initiatives show the agility of smaller companies. “It’s hard for some of the big theaters to take that first risk on an unknown voice,” says Smith. Pritchard suggests that large theater organizations are “like an oil tanker: if they want to change their working style it takes them a long time to get around”. Alphabetti, on the other hand, is a “rubber dinghy” (“I was going to say a yacht,” laughs Pritchard, “but we’re certainly not tall enough to be a yacht!”) that can move much more faster in response to. what is happening elsewhere.
But what matters, in the end, is getting work done on degrees. Smith argues that Fresh Ink has value “unless the work exists outside of the festival”, and Pritchard is keen to highlight the number of response program writers who have gone on to produce full plays. These include Charlotte Small, whose short-answer piece was developed into a longer script which was then staged as a main show, and Steve Byron and Gary Kitching, the two-handed creators of Bacon Knees and Sausage Fingers. Meanwhile, for Tyrell-Pinder, the next challenge after the Accelerate program is finding ways to get the writers’ plays going.
As we approach the general election, everyone I speak to is adamant about the need for a new government to support the arts. Tyrrell-Pinder deplores the “systematic devaluation of the arts” under the Tories, while Smith and Pritchard note that things have become much more difficult in the years since their bodies were founded. As Smith puts it, the arguments for funding the arts have been made over and over again; now is the time for action. “The talent is there, the ability is there, the statistics are there – everything is there except the increase in funding.”
